On this episode of Coast Guard Mission Critical, in the Florida Keys, a report of debris in the water turns into a search for a missing airplane. >> You know, you start noticing chairs and seats. The Coast Guard cutter Monroe with the help of the tactical law enforcement team find drug smugglers that are determined to not go out without a fight. >> They were so non-compliant of like, hey, we do not want to be caught. >> Overboard. Roger. Roger. >> Look at this. >> Roger, captain. And we have evidence in route to your position. Over >> you now. >> Get out of here. Okay. [Music] Drug cartels are actively harming Americans and our way of life and their illicit commodities destined for the United States soil devastate American families. The men and women of the Coast Guard have interdicted 2 million pounds of pure cocaine worth $26 billion. At the core of the Coast Guard's anti-drug mission is the tactical law enforcement unit, also known as tacklett. >> We're out there every single day doing 300 interdictions a year stopping bad guys. So we use Pay Officer Bash, Pay Officer Roma, lots of experience. They're both fully certified tactical operators. I came into the Coast Guard and joined right out of high school. The day I joined the Coast Guard, uh, was 20 years old. >> We give those guys a lot of training. >> You got to be strong. Got to be fast. You got to really want it. >> Romo and Bash are deployed on the United States Coast Guard Cutter Monroe. A 418 ft legendclass cutter with a crew complement of 148 are working together alongside the tacklet team members. The mission to stop illicit drugs from reaching US borders. >> Just got briefed. We got potentially two unidentified pengas. Um right now we're just waiting to get eyes on with the SUAS. The SUAS is uh super important because it takes the strain off the air crew and off the uh airframe itself. Um it also allows us to have kind of our own little uh MPA or maritime patrol aircraft support on board the ship. >> The SUAS drone tracks the suspect's vessel and transmits video and geographic positioning in real time back to the Monroe. >> It's middle of the day. We have five people on board and we can presumptively see something on this vessel. We don't know if it's trash. We don't know if they're more nylon sacks of cocaine or if it's all barrels of fuel. We don't know. Can't have that much. >> Yeah. So, first thing I do as soon as I'm done with my brief, I come down and I start getting my personal gear together and I do what's called a pre a PMC, a premission check. So, I do a premission check on myself and then I have Danny do it on me as well to make sure that everything that I have on is being worn correctly. I'm not missing anything. After that, then I go through my boarding officer kit and I make sure I have everything that I need for that specific case. [Music] for an hour on a vessel suspected of drug smuggling, including the use of force up to and including warning shots and or disorderly fire on a vessel reasonably suspected of being without nationality. >> It takes just crews of people with specific jobs to make sure that that boat gets underway safely and efficiently. >> All stations, our captain has granted information to conduct flight operations as brief. >> Without all 130 people on board, I wouldn't be able to do my job. We have a lot of good shooters here, but the precision marksman, those guys that go up in the birds and they do these shoots, they're the best shooters in the Coast Guard. As the SUASS drone follows the suspect vessel, the Monroe crew and members of Tacklett South jump into action. They launched a pursuit vessel. I was on the pursuit vessel for this boarding. [Music] [Music] [Music] The helicopter ended catching up and we get probably within 3 or 4 miles of them and Hitchron orders them to heave two. They don't heave too. And now it's time to go into warning shots and disabling fire. >> All right, they're not compliant. Prepare for warning shots. >> Fire complete by >> We got two here, right? It was tougher than normal for the gunner to get his firing angle because of how erratic and evasive the goast was moving. >> Outnumbered and outgunned, the suspect vessel is using aggressive and unpredictable movements to evade capture. It's a futile and dangerous tactic. >> The smugglers ended up taking a hard turn and launching one of their guys into the water. This dude's in the middle of the ocean. He just flew off his boat. Is he injured? Is he unconscious? Is he dead? Marathon, Florida. Located in the Florida Keys. It's a small community surrounded by water. You got to take into account swim >> marathon is uh the middle key. Uh it's m dab in the middle of Keargo in and Key West. Normally it's just a a transient stop for most people. We have such a a broad range of cases from members stranded on islands to boat sinking to drugs, migrants, just a myriad of cases. So you never know what you're going to get uh when you come on duty. [Music] Donating blood is just something. It It's another way to to give to help people. Uh you know, we signed up for this job to help people. So, I try to take advantage of every every way I can. [Music] This is Coast Guard Sector Key West. We've received reports of a debris field with contents relating to a aircraft that departed Marathon Airport this morning at 06:30. We're requesting you divert to the position of the debris field and over. >> Good copy. We are diverting. >> As the station marathon crew races to the wreckage, they receive a report. A boater has found something in the water. >> We are 20 minutes out ETA from the possible town aircraft. I'll copy. >> The call came in that there was some debris that might have been um right in line with uh plane plane debris. And then a bag was recovered by a good Samaritan in the area. >> Highwing single engine plane. >> As soon as they said they recovered a bag, we were like, "Let's go." Like, "Get your guns, get the gear, let's get on the boat and get out there." you hear plane crash, it might not be the best potential or the best, you know, chances for them, but they could be injured and still holding on to, you know, that last little bit of life that the quicker we get out there, the better chance we have of saving somebody. >> We have a community airport here in Marathon that, you know, people don't check in and check out. If they do, it's very, it's not um known like a aircraft control tower um to my knowledge. So, we didn't know how long this plane was missing for or where it went down. >> Coming down. All right. [Music] >> My responsibility is to be able to know where I'm maneuvering and what I'm maneuvering around how shallow the water is cuz we don't want to be going into any waters that are too shallow and run our boat around. We were fortunate enough to have good Samaritans in the area that reported seeing a debris field and and moving on forward with that. >> See, there's like some foot right there. >> What is that? >> It looks like a piece of board or something. I don't >> It's like a piece of wood. Yeah, it looks like it could be a radio. You know, you start noticing chairs and seats and other pieces of planes that you realize that it's a lot more of a impact than maybe just an emergency landing. It's going to there's there's a couple objects off the port of that boat. There's a lot more. >> We knew if they were alive that there was a good possibility that they could still be hanging on to something. >> Station 17. We are on scene with some of the debris in position 24 44 decimal 23 north 081 west >> over. It's close to land obviously. So, you know, it is pretty shallow there and our vessel drafts, you know, 3 and 1/2 ft. So, that's not a lot of room to work with. And obviously planes are a little bit bigger. So if it's poking out of the water, running into something like that would make matters way worse and obviously would make this evolution even more difficult. >> Go to them. >> Go over there. >> Go over to this >> to that boat. >> They spotted something. They're looking down over there. >> It's like insulation. >> How are you guys >> doing? All right. How are you guys doing? I can't find a fuselage, but I know something went down here. >> Yeah, >> she found some documents. She knows the people. >> I do. [Music] >> That's their stern way. They're going >> in international waters. The Coast Guard cutter Monroe with the help of the tactical law enforcement team are in pursuit of suspected drug smugglers. >> Park. We got a PW PW in the water in sight going around. >> The smugglers ended up taking a hard turn. >> The aggressive maneuver launches one of the suspects into the water. >> Man overboard. Man overboard. Roger. Roger. When a person gets ejected or falls overboard from a moving target of interest, that changes the game completely because now this goes from a law enforcement case to a search and rescue case. >> Is he dead? Is he injured? Is he unconscious? >> The Coast Guard, we always put search and rescue above law enforcement. Saving lives is our core mission, and that's something we'll always do. >> As the pursuit vessel closes in on the man in the water, the suspects perform an even bolder move. They ended up going back and picking up their amigo. They got him on board and then they continued fleeing. All right, sit back in your seat. Stay get in your seat. I got to move. I got to move. >> As the suspects flee with everyone safely aboard, the pursuit helicopter marks the location of potential contraband left in the water. Holden firm. All five POB are on the TOI. Over. >> They had jettison in the midst of all that some of their cocaine. [Music] >> They might have fishing gear or nets. >> Oh, they Okay. >> While the helicopter continues the pursuit, the tackler team members confiscate evidence. >> Hey. Hey, >> more importantly, these guys are very non-compliant. Keep it in mind. Keep it all in mind. All right. >> Have to lose some bottles. [Music] Here we go. Go. [Music] [Music] covering. >> Roger. Moving in for cause. Over. >> Roger. Prepare for disabling fire. On target. [Music] They were so non-compliant of like, "Hey, we do not want to be caught." And the gunner ended up making a call and saying, "Hey, I only got one engine down. I can't get this next firing angle because of how erratic they're being. It's just too dangerous. Send in the boarding team." And I was the first guy over on this boat. small making our approach. >> Get on the grill. Get on the grill now. Get on the grill. Get on the grill. Get on the grill now. Get on the grill. Let me see your hands. Minos. Minos. Minos. You see, let me see your hand. Come on. >> Turn over. >> Turn over. >> I don't care. >> Turn over. Monoa. Monoa. >> One guy's fingers bleeding. This dude looks like he's in and out of it cuz he just got thrown off a boat. What's going on? You >> good in the water? They good. >> We have five people. We are good. Hey, whoa. Awa, who fell over? >> Who fell over? >> Are you okay? You >> You fell over. Are you okay? >> Are you good? >> The ISS is complete. The person's all restrained. response. They're all okay. >> Based on our investigation, there are still multiple bales of cocaine on this vessel and they knew. They just didn't want to tell on themselves. >> You want to sit or you good? >> Sit. Sit. >> Sit. Yeah. Be okay. >> The second team rushes to the scene. >> They threw something out of their boat while they were uh while they were making way. So, right now, our main mission is recovering as much evidence as possible. Anything that can can prove them guilty, we're trying to get out of the water. >> They need to find key evidence like drugs, cell phones, and passports before they are lost at sea. [Music] How you go? No. No. This going over. >> After a dangerous high-speed chase, the boarding team neutralizes the suspect's vessel. >> They had jettison in the midst of all that some of their cocaine. So right now our main mission is recovering as much evidence as possible. [Music] [Music] >> The contraband is packaged is so they're they're broken down into 1 kg bricks. It's about 2.2 lb. So they're super compressed and they're hard as rocks. And what they do is they wrap it in saran wrap, some sort of plastic wrap. And then on top of that, they wrap it in rubber. And then on top of that, another layer of plastic wrap. And it goes continuously plastic wrap, rubber, plastic wrap for about four or five layers with hundreds of layers of saran wrap in between. And then it's wrapped in tape outside of that. Pretty much to prevent the product from getting any sort of water intrusion while it's on its transit. And in case it does go in the water and they have to pick it up later, there's no water intrusion into that product. In this field are over 100 pounds. That's not easy to pull dead out of the water while you're leaning over laying on your belly. Hey, keep grabbing me. >> Do you need a picture of each bail or no? [Music] >> Do you need a picture of each bail? >> Throw that bail on the boat. Uh, I'm looking at, hey, that's that's another 100 lb onto my my bus total. Like, ah, that's another 100 lb. No, now we're up above 1,000 keys. Now we're at, you know, 1,200 keys or whatever. That's what really makes it makes it worth it. [Music] >> More red directly off your ground. >> Hands on. >> There's lots of bales. [Music] Stop recording. Stop record. [Music] >> Now we have to test the contraband and make sure it is in fact an illicit narcotic that we're looking for. >> There's a lot of dope. >> Jeez. >> These So these ones are probably more than I would say probably over 100 pounds. >> Biggest panels I've seen. >> All right. Same process. Got a picture of this. >> It's the same hole. >> Samples are processed using a narcotics identification kit or nick test. >> When mixed with a special chemical, the liquid changes colors, signifying what type of drug is present in the sample. The test is positive for cocaine. >> I say we have two positives. We're going to pick it up. >> He has two positive nick tests on Biggie. >> Nick test positive. >> Biggie also two Nick tests positive. Over. >> Life ring on board. >> Yep. My life is on board. >> All right. Let's head to uh Tupac. It's >> 100% pure. It doesn't get any purer than what we have right here. And when that reaches the states, that's going to get cut down 15, 20 times, 30 times even. And so that brick turns into, you know, a lot of money. [Music] >> That was a hell of a ride. >> We got authorization to treat them as detainees. >> Anytime you're transferring people from boat to boat is extremely dangerous. The biggest thing is just maintaining positive control, positive contact on each one of those people and making sure that they still understand that you're in charge. >> Thanks, Garly. [Music] >> You're good, Chief. You switch forms. >> Oh god, >> that's trash back there. >> I got it. Mexico. >> So, we got two Ecuador, two Mexico, >> three Mexican. >> They told them they they put them on the boat and they told them they have to come here to win some money. He's [Music] just smart RTV. >> First taking all the batteries out of these GPS and such so we're not tracking. All right, making our approach. >> Very proud of the men and women of Tackless South who risk their lives every single day to keep America safe and stopping drugs coming into the US. The Coast Guard is involved in approximately 300 interdictions a year and this unit alone is involved in approximately 150 of them. We just uh came back to uh Monroe, dropped off the uh detainees uh the five POV that were on board um and as well as all the content that we had pulled out of the water. because you're still given your day in court. You're still innocent until proven guilty. My job as a law enforcement officer is help the prosecutors to paint this picture for them in court. After the ship reaches state side, they're then going to turn over the the drugs, the evidence, and the detainees uh over to federal authorities for prosecution. On the street, this cocaine is worth over $50 million. But now it's destined to be evidence in the case against the detainees. The cutter is recovering the Hilo right now. Uh we're standing by. We're going to be taking some ion swipes on board the TUI, uh, which help us gain reasonable suspicion and further evidence on board the TUI. Uh, once we get those on board this vessel, we'll return to base RTB. Uh, and up in our comment information center, they'll run those, confirm if uh, there's trace amass cocaine left on the vessel or not. [Music] [Music] [Music] Just got a permission from District 11 for boarding complete. We're going to disembark the uh Panga. So, we're going to sink it. It's unsafe to tow or take back with us. Could become a hazard to navigation if we don't. Imagine [Music] uh you're a cop, right? You're a you're in a a patrol car. And that's us. We're in that patrol car. That's the the cutter, right? But your patrol car, your area of responsibility goes from the Great Lakes down to Miami, Florida. That's what we do. We can be 700 miles away from a case, 8 900 miles away from a case, and we just start driving. That's the best kind of best way I can really magnify how big that ocean is, how big the the scope of what we're doing is. And it's difficult. That's what makes this job so hard is, you know, we're trying to find, you know, a needle in a needle stack is essentially what it is. [Music] [Music] That's what we like to see. That means we did our job. Your Coast Guard serves across the globe to advance American security and prosperity. We are an indispensable arm of the United States armed forces and a vital component of the Department of Homeland Security. Recent years, we continue to set records for drugrelated deaths every year on American streets. This is why we serve. May God bless the United States of America. Separatus. Yeah, it looks like it could be a radio. You know, you start noticing chairs and seats and other pieces of planes that you realize that it's a lot more of a impact than maybe just an emergency landing or something like that. It's going to >> There's There's a couple objects off the port on that boat. >> There's a lot more. >> They spotted something. They're looking down over there. >> In the Florida Keys, Station Marathon is responding to reports of a possible plane crash. We knew if they were alive that there was a good possibility that they could still be hanging on to something. >> The team approaches the vessel that called in the initial report. >> Go over there. >> Go over there >> to that boat. >> They spotted something. They're looking down over there. >> The Good Samaritans found a bag floating in the water. >> In the bag, they found receipts. They instantly recognized the names. this morning. >> The bag belongs to neighbors who were flying their plane that morning. >> They say they saw them taxiing out right around 7:00 when they opened. >> She recovered the bag and there was a rental car agreement from the people that had been at the airport earlier um in the weekend and they had been reported to be leaving that morning. >> This was the hat he was wearing yesterday. >> This is this is what his name is. And there's definitely an oil slick through here, too. I saw an oil slick. [Music] >> These This was just the initial stuff that we >> Okay. >> You want me to keep like looking around or >> let us know what you want us to do? >> But yeah, I know they were supposed to stay till Monday, but they came in yesterday and they said they were leaving early. Yeah, of course. Thank you. >> Initially, we're like, we we have something, right? You don't just find a duffel bag with people's, you know, toiletries and clothing and cell phone chargers um just floating around. [Music] We have two pieces to potentially a pretty big case. Personally, I start, you know, thinking of what it could be. >> Hey, dad's deployed. >> We have an airport in Marathon and, you know, it's not a big commercial airport and it's close. You know, we all kind of figured it out that, you know, this this is legit. >> Given the area, there were a few places where maybe they went down, they were able to get out and swim to shore somewhere. Hey, Chase. Do you see this string of debris behind to the right headed north? >> The search and rescue crew weigh out the possibilities. >> People can survive underwater for a certain amount of time. You know, can we get down there, you know, 6 ft of water if it's on land? You know, did the debris field end up somewhere else and they're just on a on a Keys Island somewhere? Um saying, "Hey, Coast Guard, we're we're over here." Um, we all want that to happen. >> Yeah. So, it's a Cessna 210. So, it's a pretty high performance aircraft. Retractable landing gear, one engine. Um, can see like four to six people depending on how it's configured. Has a pretty big fuel capacity. He said that he saw an oil slick, so I don't know if it's it's kind of dissipated if it went down around 7 or 7:30 this morning. >> Hey, you got that boat coming? >> Yeah. Hey, back off. >> Okay. Hold on. We're trying to calculate the spat and drift of the water real quick. >> What time am I at? >> 40 seconds. >> These people just reported an oil sheen over here. So, we'll go check that out. >> Somebody go stand on the bow to check the front and make sure we're not going to hit it if we run right in front of the plane. >> Station marathon. Station marathon 17. [Music] >> Station marathon. T7, I believe a good sound has assisted us in locating the the plane. We're going to investigate now in position 24 44 decimal 2 03 decimal 7. >> We're searching the area looking for anything we can find to maybe determine where they could have drifted or anything like that. >> That's that wood. So, the plane's not going to move in the water. >> Up off our bow. Looks like sheen, though. >> They're blowing a whistle over there. >> I'm gonna go investigate that a little bit. >> You will always maintain that little bit of hope that someone is alive still. You just like mark in position. Just say I would just start marking where we're picking stuff up. >> Yeah, that's >> Yeah, that's the rear seat. You see anything >> underneath? >> I don't know what that is either. >> There's something sticking up right here, too. And it's not moving. >> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. >> Hey, there's a body right here. >> A body? Hills. >> We have 01 body underwater. >> I just kind of took a deep breath and then your mind instantly switches to, okay, this is a recovery mission. >> Immediately, it's the mind shift of disappointment. >> Yeah. So, we have uh at least one body here from the plane crash. So, we're going to move in to recover the body, try to get a identification. [Music] >> Upon spotting the body, we immediately go into recovery mode. And at this point, we're trying to salvage what we can of the remains because there were sharks in the water. We knew that the sharks were um attacking the bodies. So, in my mind, everybody needed to go ahead and get personal protective equipment on. >> Uh, I got it. I got it. You're good, Andy. >> All right. Neutral. >> Neutral. [Music] >> The condition of him was pretty gruesome. >> Yeah. I' I've never seen anything like that. >> We decided to go to the method of using the line underneath the body to lasso it to kind of use it to bring it on board. You want to try to maintain as much dignity and respect for the deceased member as possible. So, treating them very gently, respectfully. You you don't train for a body recovery, but you train to do what you need to do in that given moment. >> Yeah, man. It's it's it's pretty bad. Like, just whoever's coming down or to help, make sure they're prepared for it. Quad seven station. The sheriff's office requests that the people who found the body floating to come in with us so they can question us. >> Okay. Sheriff wants them to >> station 17. Roger. >> Hey guys. Guys, >> stay with us. >> Hey, listen. Uh, we're going to have to have you stay with us. After we get done here, we're going to have to go back in. You guys are going to follow us and uh we have socks to share part. Okay. >> Okay. >> There's another vessel around you that found the floating plane on a mud. >> You get like two seconds to kind of just let it out and then there's still another person on that plane that you know we need to go pick up. [Music] you have out here. >> The water depth is 6 to 8 ft where we were, give or take a foot. Um, you know, just knowing that, you know, the weight of a plane, the speed of a plane going into water potentially hitting bottom is going to cause pretty blunt impact. There's uh another one right there. just two bodies. >> Yeah. >> Is that too easy you see? >> Um again, you know, that that glimpse of hope that you had is now 100% gone because you know that there were only two people on board. We have one person. The other body was a few um you know, 100 yards off off the bow of the boat. >> One, two, three. Do it station. Throw the line in there. Yeah, throw a line in there. >> Hold on. >> Do we want to slide her away from the sky a little bit? >> This is the experience that you're putting in your tool bag or your mental tool bag to deal with in the long run. You did what you could. You did everything that within your power. And you know the results are the worst case scenario. >> Doesn't get really any easier. >> I'm no expert obviously, but I would put the time of crash around 7:15 to 7:30 just based on our initial report and when the airport saw them leave the runway. So we got out here around 8:45, something like that off of the back of my head. >> And I saw something large floating in the water. But we turned around to look at it and it was a mangled seat and I thought maybe it's car seat from Bahamas from the hurricane, right? But as we kind of drove around, we noticed there was debris under the water. So I assumed that, you know, stuff didn't float here from the Bahamas and then sink behind Marathon Airport. We sort of continued sort of back to towards our course, but we noticed more debris. Um, my wife noticed some birds um picking at the water and we went to the birds and found the first deceased person. Um, nearby was the second. [Music] [Music] When you join the Coast Guard, body recovery is not something that you add to the job description. No one talks about it. It's kind of an unspoken thing. It exists, but it's not advertised. You hope that you're never a part of it. And I'm sure that someone in the Coast Guard has been lucky enough to do 20 years and never have to recover a body. >> It never really sinks in at first. There's always some sort of denial that it has happened or hasn't happened. >> You check in with each other, right? Are you good? Are you good? Are you good? And we all go, we're good. And then you you get it done. >> There are people that get lost at sea every year and their family never gets that closure. So, it wasn't a success in that someone, you know, two lives were saved and they got to go home, but the fact that we were able to bring them back to give to their families so that they could honor whatever wishes they had as far as, you know, a a funeral service and um something like that that I'm grateful for that because I can't imagine what not having that closure um would be like. >> I don't know. I think it's going to be for Monroe County. >> Yeah, that's serial numbers right there. >> And then this is a bag of personal effects. >> That's a seat back. I'm pretty sure Matthew Sparks was very helpful um in this case. When we got back uh from finding the bodies and she was there, come and talk to us and kind of see how we were feeling after the case and make sure we were doing all right as a crew and as an as individuals. >> Here for support. >> I offered to stand by. we had a crew ready to go to stand by so that we can still maintain our our readiness posture here. Um but they didn't want that. They wanted to continue on doing what they are paid to do. Um that in itself as a first responder, you know, it takes it takes that that that uh heart and dedication. >> It's tough. You have to deal with it, though. If you're not caught out to to see the worst, you'll never be at your best. We have to press on. It's our job to be out here every single day dealing with a myriad of different situations. It could be anything from a turtle in distress to a person having a stroke to drug enforcement. And no matter what, at the end of the day, you have to be able to get sleep so you're ready for the next day.